December 4, 1970 THE SCARLET AND BLACK PAGE 3 Bowman Says That Experimental Courses Should Be Devised by lnci Bowman Recently, Iattendeda confer ence on the "model univer- sity”, sponsored by the Dan- forth Foundation. Although th’ ere were no agreements on what a university is or should be, the gathering was an ac tasion on which various criti- cisms of higher education were brought into the open, thus giving me a chance to think certain issues over. Moreover, I am aware of the current interest at Grinnell in using group independents as “experimental" courses. In some ways, I see definite ad- vantages in incorporating more ”experimental" courr ses in the Grinnell curriculum and I would like the members of the college community to consider the possibility. It appears that many people have given up on finding a suitable definition fora liberal arts education. Rather, the tendency is to regard unders graduate education as ful~ filling or trying to fulfill sev- eral functions at the same time. Commonly, the campus is a place Where one an get the background necessary to go to a graduate or profes sional school for further spe- cialized training. Secondly, the college offers general edu- cation in a traditional sense, which is intended to provide the individuals witha means of coping with the complexities in life and of being effective citizens. Finally, there is what some people call the "baby- sitting” function ofthe college for those young people who are on the campus for various reasons. Among this group, one might cite those who do not have aspirations of climb- ing up via graduate schools or who have turned against middle class values, but still interested in some kind of educational experience. When one views Grinnell in terms of the above generali- zations, one would likely ads mit that the college carries out its functions well in pre paring students for graduate and professional schools, and even providing them withgen~ eral education in the tradi» tional sense, But what is the college doing in meetingsome student demands which can- not be fulfilled by traditional courses? The obvious answer is, of course, that individual or group independents have been instituted in order to fill this very gap. (At this point, many critical students admit that Grinnell is not such a bad place after all.) However, Season’s Greetings POWESHIE —mmmwm 4th & Broad/5m 4 Wait - Erin/tall Molar Bank m A W.» ‘il’hllm BANK em are the group independents being employed satisfactorily in making the individual an active member and providing a group experience, in line with the desires of some stu- dents on campus? Defines ‘Ex erimentol’ P Before discussing some ad‘ vantages of “experimental" courses, I mightpoint outwhat is generally understood by an "experimental" course and in what ways it may differ from a traditional course. However, this is not by any means a rigid description, but rather a heuristic model which may be used as a guideline. An "experimental" course is intended for a group of ins dividuals with common inter- est in a subject matter, who agree to study and come to- gether to exchange ideas or share their intellectual ex- perience. It is expected that each individual will contri- bute to the group lain-ring by coming prepared and partici- pating in the discussions. Ads mittedly, the loose structure of the course makes it very prone to corruption. In order to avoid this, each person will be responsible for preserving the integrity of the group in so far as it constitutes "a community of learning". Thus the faculty member may or may not contribute more than others. The bibliography and the format of the course may be determined by the students and the faculty memberacting jointly. Such a course is re garded as being “experimen— tal" in the sense that it will be subject to constant evalua— tion by the group in order to Povnrrns Fourth Avenue Fashions Take home that gilt from Poyntor’s THREE FLOORS OF FASHION GIR LS’TEEN LADIES FREE GIFT WRAPPING #406 a. new, 6.4mm Eat a holiday dinner with us TOM'S SLONGHORN “FINE FOOD IN A FRIENDLY WESTERN ATMOSPHERE” meet students' educational needs. Needless to say, there will be no letter grades nor any exams. Although, in gen- eral, it is expected that ex? perimental courses willcover topics net included in the cur riculum, there is no apparent reason why some already ex- isting courses may not be of- fered as experimental cour~ ses, if the faculty member and students choose to do so. The main advantage of "ex~ perimental" courses is the fact that they will constitute an alternative form of eduta- tion. The student will assume a more active role in the learning process and will come to grips with collective responsibility. I do not intend to question here the value of techniques employed in tradi~ tional courses--1earning from lectures, writing papers, pres paring for exams. Such tech- niques may be quite approp- riate for teaching certain dis‘ ciplines, and obviously are well suited for preparing stir dents for more specialized graduate training. Neverthe‘ less, traditional courses gens erally give rise to compartr mentalized knowledge, andthe idea of sharinga learning ex- perience is secondary to the purpose, if it is considered at all. Therefore, ”experimen- tal" courses, if carried out satisfactorily, will provide a different form of education-- a form which may corres- pond better to the concept of an ideal edumtion. Moreover, wider employ- ment of "experimental" cour- ses in the curriculum will make it possible for the col‘ lege to fulfill rather well what i take to be one of its functions; namely, educating students who are uninterested in either “making it" in the system or going through a process which subjects them to constant competition and imparts on them some “pri- vate" knowledge. However, the establishment ofthispoint, whether or not the college should accommodate such non—conformist students, ap- pears to be thorny as it ulti- mately depends on how one defines the role of an educa- tional institution in the soc- iety. Let us consider, for the time being, the conservative View which denies that educating nonrconformist students is a legitimate function of higher' education. Perhaps the mm< 'pus is not a place for them, and thus "experimental" cou— rses have no role in the curri~ culum. If this argument were tenable, then college should not admit students whoare not willing to go through a tradi- tional process of learning. If the college were to open its doors only to those who are interested in conforming to the system, then it would become an institution serving the needs of the establish ment. Closing doors to non- conformist students would in fact be like sweeping under the rug the problems that such students bring to the campus, which in turn reflectproblems not generally seen from the establishment point of view. If one of the primary goals of an educational institution is to serve the society, then the university must assume the responsibility of educating a wider group of individuals with various interests. Therefore. the education ofnonr conform- ist students is as much a fun- ction of the collegeasprepar- ing individuals for graduate specialization and providing them with general education in a traditional sense. When we consider the scene at Grinnell, it does notappear to be a rigid institution. The possibility of takingindepend- ent courses and the recent decision of the faculty to drop the general education require- ments :indicate the college's intention to provide students with an education flexible to their needs. Why could not we take one more step and use group independents as "ex- perimental" courses? Ifmore "experimental" courses were to be included in the curricu- lum, not only would the col- lege be responding to the edu- cational demands ofaparticu‘ lar group ofstudents, butalso, more importantly, it would be offering a different form of ‘ educational experience to all. 60 DAYS IN EUROPE Summer 1971 July 1 - August 30 EUROPEAN ART 8. ARCHITECTURE TOUR 20 Day Seminar at Oxford 40 Day Continental Travel (England, Denmark, Greece, Italy, France, Holland) 4 hours academic credit Write to: Dean Robert P. 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